There are many gaming franchises that emerge from the shadows, are deeply appreciated, and then promptly disappear, for one reason or another. In the last two or three decades, some games have debuted that have changed the face of their genre, only to vanish - in some cases without even receiving a follow-up title. As the flow of time moves ever onwards, some of the best franchises in the history of gaming are in danger of being totally forgotten.
For the most part, these 'forgotten franchises' started out on the PlayStation 2-era of consoles, transitioned across generations, and then were killed off. It may have been the crushing blow of competition or the bankruptcy of a firm, but whatever the reason was, these franchises disappeared into the ether, never to be seen again.
7 Killzone
Killzone debuted in 2004, and within a relatively short period of time, it became a leading first-person shooter franchise, spanning across the PlayStation 2, 3, 4, PSP, and Vita platforms. It was something of a flagship series, telling the story of an intergalactic war interwoven with heartbreak, devastation, and the undeniable sense of brotherhood and belonging.
When the PlayStation 4 launched in 2013, it brought with it Killzone: Shadow Fall, the final game in the franchise. It was a massive jump into the future of the Killzone franchise, accelerating time, technology, and the story, but it failed to perform very well, despite being a solid and attractive game. It was promptly left behind by the developer, Guerrilla Games, and never revisited.
6 Red Faction
Red Faction is a legendary franchise that has spanned several platforms over a two-decade period - if re-releases count in this scenario. As a franchise, Red Faction told a persistent story of rebellious forces fighting back against corporations and corrupt governments on Mars, and it did it remarkably well
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Originally, Red Faction featured the iconic Geo-Mod engine, which, even in 2001, enabled players to wreak havoc on an extremely destructible environment. This concept was made more advanced as the series pushed on, culminating in 2011's Red Faction: Armageddon, which was the last title to launch in the franchise.
5 Mercenaries
Mercenaries was a two-part franchise that spanned two separate generations, but it was way back in 2008 that it ultimately died out. When the first game launched on the PlayStation 2 and the Xbox in 2005, it immediately boasted innovative features, untold levels of destruction, and a large, open-world environment.
In 2008, a sequel was launched - World in Flames. It was a short-lived adventure that took the franchise from North Korea to Venezuela, and it introduced multiplayer mechanics to the series. It was ultimately overshadowed by similar franchises, such as Just Cause, and left to die.
4 Splinter Cell
Splinter Cell is a world-class stealth-action franchise that dates back to 2002. Following a spree of titles, the series ultimately came to an end in 2013 with Splinter Cell: Blacklist, and since then, nothing new has surfaced. There are whisperings of a VR version of the game being in development along with a remake of the first-ever game in the series, but there's nothing tangible.
For a while, Splinter Cell was an annual staple, with a new game launching in 2004, 2005, and 2006. There was a PSP port, and across two generations, Splinter Cell spawned a total of seven games. However, once Blacklist dropped in 2013, the franchise petered out, never to be seen again.
3 Medal Of Honor
Medal of Honor was one of the driving forces that pushed up the popularity of the first-person shooter genre, ultimately inspiring the birth of Call of Duty. It was first seen in 1999, when a game of the same name launched on the PlayStation, boasting gameplay that was considered quite ahead of its time, and it spent many years exploring World War II.
Following the success of the earlier titles, Medal of Honor went on to spawn a further fifteen games, and the franchise ultimately spanned three generations of consoles. In 2010, the franchise pivoted, focusing on modern-day combat with Medal of Honor, a franchise reboot, and in 2012, Medal of Honor: Warfighter launched as a failed competitor to Call of Duty and Battlefield. It sealed the deal for the franchise, and aside from an off-the-cuff VR variant, the Medal of Honor franchise remains buried.
2 Bully
Bully was a one-shot release pushed out in 2006 by Rockstar Games, and it debuted as something of a 'young gamer' alternative to Grand Theft Auto. It gave players the ability to explore an open-world environment, but instead of shooting civilians and stealing cars, they were attending a private school as teenager Jimmy Hopkins. It was a light-hearted take on the Grand Theft Auto formula that was critically acclaimed and universally praised.
However, once the game had had its time in the sun, it was promptly retired by Rockstar Games. There were re-releases over the years, and it was ported and made backwards compatible on future hardware, but it was never followed up on. More than fifteen years after Bully launched, Rockstar Games still (apparently) has absolutely no plans to release a sequel.
1 SOCOM
SOCOM: U.S. Navy SEALs was widely regarded as one of the best tactical shooters to ever emerge on the PlayStation 2 platform. Not only was it innovative, featuring a unique hardware infusion in the form of a headset and a voice recognition engine, but it was authentic, challenging, and very realistic.
Although it was released way back in 2002, the first SOCOM game made use of the PS2's online gaming service in North America, effectively pioneering the feature. Ultimately, SOCOM as a franchise would spawn another nine titles, before dying out following the launch of 2011's SOCOM 4 on PlayStation 3.